Earl Creps

Earl and I had a chance to visit on Friday and Saturday. Earl posts a nice list of 13 things that he likes about my denomination.

Twelve of them are true and I appreciate each of them!

On that "other" one:

Though Sara Cunningham was raised in a SBC church, she is now part of a Free Methodist church plant.

But, her book is still worth reading!

Now, Earl, full confession: I only know that because she came up and thanked me for some research we recently released... and I asked her a bunch of questions about her own journey.

Earl, I promise to return the favor and write a post about things I like about the Assemblies of God. Here is the first... more will come later.

1. You guys have all the same rules we Baptists have, but you seem happier about them.

Phil Stevenson

Phil does a great job leading the Evangelism and Church Growth Department at the Wesleyan Church. When I was at Indiana Wesleyan University, he subscribed me to his weekly journal, Expanding Wave. I found this one to be especially interesting, looking at the need to engage aging boomers for the gospel. You can download it here.

Richard Land and Harold Harper

Driving in to work on Wednesday I heard that some SBC leaders were coming out against tobacco. This is unusual. Tobacco is considered a sacrament in many rural churches and government regulation is about as welcome as a liberal at the SBC meeting.

Well, later that day, Richard Land and Harold Harper bought the barbeque. Richard said I eat barbeque like a Yankee (which makes sense considering I am from New York City). After being mocked for eating with a knife and a fork, I finally "manned up" and ate it with my fingers. That, and the Blue Bell Ice Cream (from Texas, like Richard), made the lunch quite worthwhile.

We talked denomination, ministry, and politics (real politics, not the denominational kind).

Richard is listed as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. Me... not so much.

I am impressed by his new book, The Divided States of America. When Joe Lieberman writes the foreword, it must be good... and it is.

Frank Page

Frank touched base this week. It is always encouraging to talk with him-- he gives me hope that my denomination can build on its conservative resurgence-- to make it a Great Commission Resurgence. My favorite "Frankism" is, "I'm a conservative; I'm just not mad about it."

Frank recently wrote two important articles. I cited the first one here and you can read the second one here. Both are timely and needed.

Eric Thomas

I preached at First Baptist Norfolk on Sunday. I mentioned Eric Thomas' Ph.D. dissertation on evangelization in postmodern context. He graciously has sent it to me and you can download it here.